Nothing Happens On The Sidelines!

Few days prior, I was seeing a Football Match of trending FIFA world cup on a Tv. I am not a not great follower of this game but I love to watch the thrill of game during World cup. I don’t watch much of a Tv. I watch it for a while (accidentally) when I am in my gym, while I am eating or whenever I am spending some time with family. If I do not like the content & if I cannot avoid it. I do lot of observation in the running content like ads, celebrities, players, their body language, the way they carry themselves, their dressing sense, the message, the words, the ideas, the application, photography, projection & many more things.

While I was seeing this match, I saw 2-3 players were fully ready for substitution/exchange. After a long while one player got the chance. Referee showed the board & the players got changed, new player ran into the ground. I was listening to the commentary, the other two players sitting on the side-lines were also excited to get into the game, expecting to get rollout at any moment near time. One player was too much excited. He was jumping, bouncing, stretching on the side-line, He was full of confidence & feeling like he was high on everything. May be he was the next roll-out player as part of team strategy. The match was about to end, the heat was rising in the end time as both team players were trying to hit the target very desperately. Finally the whistle blew up, the Match ended in a tie. I know it was not a big deal, too many matches end up with a tie but I was thinking about the player who was bouncing, stretching. The one who was fully prepared but I didn’t get an opportunity to get into the ground.

What let me thinking ?

The player who was sitting on the side-lines had everything in him. He was jumping, bouncing, stretching & into full excitement but He didn’t get a chance & he couldn’t deliver anything on that day. Even though he was somewhat deserving, highly prepared he didn’t get chance to display his talent, to make some contribution for his Team, for his country. Probably few years later nobody would remember him (for that match) even though he was on the side-lines. He was complete player, he had lot of preparation, potential & skills, still nobody would remember him for that match. why? Because He was not there in the battle ground!

The Contrary Relevance –

I found the relevance of this story with us especially with my life. You may feel its bit dissimilar to the discussion above. Ya, its bit different, it’s a relevance of a contrary way. He was prepared, confident and wilful but he didn’t get a chance to deliver. He had to sit on the side-lines for some reasons. He was willing to jump in but he couldn’t! But what about us? On flip side of him, we prepare, we have potential, lot of skill, will & confidence and still we prefer to sit on Side-lines. No body restricts us at side-lines but our own self, we prefer to stay there. Who stops us? Nobody but ourselves! The pressure of performance, the concern of avoiding mistakes, the fear of failure holds us back. what people would say about me if I fail, May be I am not prepared that much, maybe I don’t have that much calibre right now, such questions rumble in our mind & we get glued to the side-lines. We feel maybe it’s not right time today, I would prepare my-self better next time & I would get into the ground. We just wait to subside the pressure & good time to come to launch us, deliver ourselves.

But the better next never comes automatically unless You make it on your own. See, nothing happens on the side-lines. You got to jump into the battleground. You got to walk aggressively in the direction of your fear. You got to acknowledge fear & have to act despite of it in the direction of your dreams. That is called courage. You can win only with courage! Courage can develop only when you jump into the battleground and act on your fears. Courage would never be devised on the side-lines only by waiting. All your knowledge, your skill, potential, your spirit and enthusiasm would go into drain one day if you would not dare to jump in the domain of life, into the application.

# You got to jump in, Make mistakes, fail forward & move ahead! That’s one of the best way to propel yourself forward. I wasted my few years on side-lines with all sort of derogatory conversation with myself. I always felt that I am not ready, I am too young & I should wait for a while. I have lot of time ahead. So, years after years vanished in waiting! Nothing substantial happened! Actually nothing happened! I was still seating on the side-line with my dreams. I was looking for path least resistance to launch myself & I was expecting the convenience of change without any inconvenience.

I know it’s not easy to jump into the battle ground of life, (making mistakes & acknowledging them to move forward) but it is the right way. It is the only way! Sometimes right way is not the easy way! And you got to take the difficult choice of going for right way than the Easy way. Because easy way is always alluring deport you to the mediocre life, hopeless future but the right way that seems difficult and rocky thrust you towards life of your dreams!

Confusion is still there within Me but –

Even today I am not much confident, still I feel fear to launch myself into unknown territory, fear of making mistakes , getting exposed , I feel there are lot of problems on my way. I am bit young how can I do that & I should prepare more before I walk towards my dream, I am not that ready , I should wait for a while & so on. But I have decided that waiting is enough. Confusion is still there but I would keep walking towards my dream. I would improvise myself, I would figure it out on my way than waiting on the side-lines.